1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to antennas. More specifically, the present invention relates to remotely controlled television antennas with channel memory and having a programmable gain amplifier and a remotely controlled antenna rotor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Television viewing is ubiquitous in modern society. Users access television program content though radio broadcast signals, cable, satellite, and prerecorded media. While cable, satellite and prerecorded media offer excellent performance in terms of video and audio quality, they all require some payment of ongoing services fees or a purchase price. Broadcast television is unique in that it is typically accessible without recurring charges. However, broadcast television service is disadvantaged by the vagaries of radio wave propagation. It is a common collective experience of users to deal with antenna and tuning issues in seeking clear and stable television reception.
Broadcast television reception antennas are available in a wide variety of configurations. Each antenna design includes compromises between size, cost, radio performance, ease of installation, and operating convenience. For example, at the low end of the range is the single element rod antenna extending from the back of the television set. The rod antenna is small, low cost, easy to install and fairly convenient to operate. However, the radio performance of the rod antenna is poor having a gain that may be unity or less. Users of rod antennas frequently struggle to get decent picture and sound quality, especially at lower frequency channels where a large physical structure is needed for the antenna to be resonant and couple radio energy efficiently. Rod antennas are only effective in very strong signal strength environments, at close ranges to television broadcast transmitters. At the high end of the range are large multi-element log periodic antennas that may include dozens of elements sized to be resonant and cover the entire television broadcast frequency range, and even cover certain radio broadcast frequency ranges, such as commercial FM broadcasts. These antennas can be very large, requiring outdoor mounts, rooftop mounts, and long feed lines. They are expensive and difficult to install. Installation includes aiming the main beam of the antenna towards television broadcast station. The benefit of these antennas is excellent radio performance, offering fully quieted receiver performance at long distances from the broadcast stations, sometimes exceeding 75 or 100 miles.
Designers of television antenna systems have devised numerous devices and techniques of improving performance of television antennas, particularly with regards to mitigating the unfavorable nature of the aforementioned compromises. Motorized antenna rotors have been added to direct the main beam of an antenna toward particular broadcast stations, thereby enabling users to “steer” the antenna system on a channel-by-channel basis. Radio frequency (“RF”) amplifiers have been added to boost signal strength of otherwise underperforming passive antenna designs. Tuned matching elements have been added to more efficiently couple energy between an antenna and the feed line that connects it to a television receiver. Compact antennas for interior installation have been offered to overcome the problems of outdoors and rooftop installations. Remote controls for antenna direction selection are known as well. Some remotes have been integrated with television receiver channel selection remotes to simplify operation. Still, there exist problems with all of the prior art designs. For example, adding an RF amplifier can be beneficial in weak signal conditions, yet may saturate the television receiver on channels with strong signals, thereby reducing performance. Compact antennas for indoor use suffer from poor performance at lower frequencies. Complex gain and matching element designs added to improve performance of compact antennas are confusing for users to operate, limiting the real potential benefit of such designs.
The advent of high definition television (“HDTV”) has exacerbated the issues with regards to antenna design compromises. Users of HDTV are seeking dramatic improvements in video performance and picture clarity. HDTV viewing can be considered “critical” television viewing. Thus, any weakness in broadcast antenna performance is most noticeable and objectionable. Still, the aforementioned design compromises with respect to the vagaries of radio wave propagation continue to exist. Thus it can be understood that there is a need in the art for a apparatus and method for receiving broadcast television and radio signals that provides exceptional RF performance across multiple channels and frequencies, is physically compact, is easy to install, is convenient to operates, and is available at reasonable cost to users.